Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • A note about profanity and The Legand of Zelda


      Why are you people so sensiative about the "F" word? I mean it?s just a word, words can?t hurt you, right? You call me immature because I had an "out burst". Well I ask which is more immature, what I did which as far as I can tell was have a "outburst" and use "profanity" OR ?. (wait was that an "outburst" ? I mean it was in all caps) call some one immature and joke and poke fun at him. I don?t know, maybe both. I do know that you people are acting like school children on the playground. (I don?t mean to be a hypocrite but I just thought you should know because you might not be aware.) The only thing i?m guilty is saying a few "naughty" words and having an "outburst". Both of which are done by most if not all action stars. (I dare you to go up to Sly Stallone, Jean Clade Van Damn
      Arnold, or Steven Segal and call them immature.)
      Personally I think the "F" word has a bad rep. What other word can be used as a verb, adj, noun, as basically every type of word, even as every word in a sentence? What other word can describe pain, pleasure, fright, anger, happiness, and a plethora of other emotions? ONLY the "F" word. I say use the "F" word every day, use it?s versatility to spice up your otherwise mundane daily lives.
      Besides there are for more offensive words. Take today?s expression "Gadzooks!" for example.
      Gadzooks is not particularly offensive to most. Of course, most don't know what
      it originally meant. Gadzooks was originally slang for "God's hooks," and was very offensive as it also referred to the crucifixion. An interesting note is that there is a store called Gadzooks which everyone thinks of as a pop-culture vendor to America's youth. Some (but not many) of Gadzooks' shoppers would be very offended if they knew the true meaning of the store's name. Another word from this region is a Cockney expression, "Gorblimey," which is a word used to swear to the truth, and is a shortened form of "God blind me." Also, in England, words such as "bloody," "blimey," "blinkin'," beginning with the letters "BL" are taken offense to because they, once again, refer to the blood of Christ and the crucifixion.
      Even people that we think were great used Profanitay, William Shakespeare for example, though it is not widely taught, was not a very clean writer. In fact, he was somewhat of a potty mouth. His works encompassed a lot of things that some people wish he had not. That includes a fair helping of sex, violence, crime, horror, politics, religion, anti-authoritarianism, anti-semitism, racism, xenophobia, sexism, jealousy, profanity, satire, and controversy of all kinds. In his time, religious and moral curses were more offensive than biological curses. Most all original (before being censored) Shakespearean works contain very offensive profanity, mostly religious, which is probably one of many reasons that his works were and are so popular. Because his works contained so many of these profane words or phrases, they were censored to protect the innocent minds of the teenagers who
      are required to read them, and also because they were blasphemous and offensive. Almost all of the profanity was removed, and that that was not had just reason for being there.
      Perhaps the two worst of these Shakespearean swears were "'zounds" and "'sblood." "'Zounds" had twenty-three occurrences. Ten of them were in 1 Henry IV. The rest appear in Titus (once), Richard III (four times), Romeo and Juliet (twice), and Othello ( six times). Iago and Falstaff were the worst offenders. 'Zounds has evolved into somewhat of a silly and meaningless word, but was originally horribly offensive. This oath, short for "God's wounds," was extremely offensive because references to the wounds or blood of
      Christ were thought especially outrageous, as they touched directly on the crucifixion. "'Sblood" had twelve occurrences in all. There were eight times in 1 Henry IV (with Falstaff accounting for six), plus once in Henry V, twice in Hamlet, and once in Othello. 'Sblood occurs less than 'zounds, but is equally offensive and means basically the same thing.
      Now that were done with the history lesion there is one more point I would like to bring up, some one had comment about play control and used The Legend of Zelda as an example. I admit I was starting to agree with you UNTIL (sorry for the outburst) they said Zelda was a RPG. Zelda is NOT, I repeat NOT a RPG. The definition if a RPG is any game that tells a story and the main character?s abilities improve throughout out the course of the story. Zelda has no statistics NONE, the closest thing to them would be gaining an extra heart after every dungeon. That would mean that if Zelda is a PRG then the Mega Man games are also RPGs (gains new weapons) as well as Bonks Adventure (gains more ? Hearts)
      Any one who has played these games knows there not RPGs, and neither is Zelda
      Thank you for reading this thus far and I hope it give you some thing to think about.

      Zelda=not a rpg

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    • You make some interesting points, but I think your core arguments are somewhat flawed. I don't know your history in these forums, and therefore I don't know the circumstances that promted your post, but I think I can make a fairly good guess...

      You claim that there is nothing wrong with the use of the "F" word because there are hundreds of other offensive words in the English language that are used every day. It is true that many words from great works of literature that have found a common place in our modern language orginally carried very offensive meanings, but the key is that very people today find those words offensive. In contrast, many people take great offense to the "F" word. Their reasons for not liking to hear or read such language are their own, and it is not for you to tell others what should or should not offend them. The very fact that these people DO take offense so such words should be reason enough for most people to refrain from using them in their presence -- it is a simple act of courtesy.

      Now of couse the argument could be made that you as an individual should be free to express yourself how you see fit, and if someone doesn't like what you have to say, then they don't have to listen. This is also well and correct -- freedom of speech is a good thing. However, such ideals do not always apply to every situation. This is a community forum established and maintained by a specify organization, and thus it has rules. If these rules state that certain words are not to be used, then you should honor these rules if you wish to make use of the fourm. Again it is not your place to question the validity of this. The rules are the rules, and you must follow them or not use the forum -- simple as that.

      I myself don't disapprove of the "F" word. You are correct that it is quite a unique part of our vocabulary. What I do disapprove of is the careless use of this word in a public medium that anyone of any age can access. We try to prevent our children from exposure to this kind of language because if they hear it, they will repeat it, and when they repeat it, they will bother to consider whether the current situation is appropriate for such language because they won't know the difference. If my son said the "F" word after smashing his thumb with a hammer or falling off his bike, I might shake my head, sigh, and tell him not say that, but I probably wouldn't punish him for it. On the other hand, if he used the word in a remark directed at his teacher's face, I'd definately have a big problem with that.

      As to your other argument about Zelda not being an RPG... I agree that it is not, but not for the reasons you gave. Statistics have nothing to do with whether an game is an RPG or not. RPG stands for Role Playing Game, and thus as far as I'm concerned, the game has to include some kind of role playing -- choices your character has to make that shapes who he is and how he relates to the world around him. Even if Zelda had a level-up system full of ability stats that improved over time, I still wouldn't consider it an RPG, it's an adventure game.

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      Mauglir

    • There will be no use of the 'F' word on this board, nor any other board. If I see anyone using it on this board, I will not hesitate to karma slap them. Further use will result in permanent banning.

      I agree, zelda is not an RPG, it is an adventure game. This has nothing to do with Coldstone, so I'm locking the thread. Nice start you've made on the board totalimmortal. :rolleyes:

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      Ladies and Gentlemen, as you know we have something special for you at
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      Let's take it back to the concrete streets, original beats and real live MC's...
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      (This message has been edited by the Necromicon (edited 11-19-2001).)